Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1887-02-22
A BEAVER TRAMP.

M.pe. farm. 10 Harmony, Pa. last Sat.
unl.y, 20 attend the sale OF the personal
effect. OF the late Orin \. MsPe'.
Amo,s the article, disposed OF vas
beaver..kin cap. which was made ~
year, aso oat Of the far Of the last oeA
ver ever captured in the Chsmung valley.
II no, 10 the state The beaver VAS
Killed By the father Of Orin MaPe', al.
ter /, h.d been hun,ed for twenty years.
There wefe very few beavers left 10
Penn.,lv.nia ia 1894. when Benjamin
Patterson, . noted hun,ef and usPPer OF
those d.y,, discovered eolony in Mud
creek, . tributary OF the Upper Chsmuns
ny,r. Thi, va. the frs, colony OF bea-
ver. ,hl, had been found ,hsreAboa' iof
some years. Patterson sc, bis trap. aud
caught beaver every nigh, ior seven
night. Ga the eighth night q beaver
escaped from the trap, and left one OF
ki. hind lex, there.
Ihapeeuli.ri,y Of the beaver family
,h., II all the members Of eolony but
ons are captured or die. the survivor
-ill never again seek another eolony OF
follow the regular life Of beaver. but
will become . wandsrr, hiding wherever
/, eau. and displaying q cunning and 'a-
s.ei,y ,hs, were strange to It when u
lived IN . eolony. After hndins the
beaver. lex in bis trap, and falling to
capture any more Of the animals. Ps,ief-
.oa knew that hs had taken ell but one
Of the entire eolony, aud ih., that one
had beco ne a crippled ~andsrsr.
These solitary beavers were called
tramp, by some rspPer, And bsehslo"
by Others. Patterson los, track OF the
missing beaver. but the neI, year he
came upon sign. Of IL. lie could not
ind its hiding places. however. and Tor
five year. he followed the crippled beaver
up and down the Chsmung aud It's bran.
ehe.. llw.y. on IL, trail. bu, never sue
eeeding in ou,wi,,ins It's cunning. AZ
the end Of five years Patterson declare.
,h., the beaver bore charmed life. and
tha, there va. no use in wasting time oa
H. HI, brother Richard thought difisr'
emily, and continued the search iot the
bachelor beaver. IL WI. heard OF all
over the valley. fr, In one place and
then in another but Patterson had no
better luck ia trapping for IL than HI, bro
,her had. and In 1907 all sisns OF the
wandering beaver disappeared. II W.
though, that IL had died or lvf, the 10.
eali,y.
Nothing va. heard or seen OF Il again
for nearly four years. In 1912 Bsnj,.
min Patterson WAS fishing in the Tosa
river, near Painted Post, and vas sur.
pri,ed TO see beaver crawl out from
clump Of willows near by him and draw
itself up the bank. One OF It's hind legs
wa. gone, and Patterson iel, ,ha, he WAS
once more in the presence OF the charmed
beaver. lie picked up club and 'prAns
toward the animal, but IL quickly dl'aP-
peared in the water. Patterson ran to =
house near by and 20. rifle. When he
returned 10 the river the beaver Was IN
the middle OF the river. swimming toward
the other shore. Patterson took good
aim and fred q, IL. 1, disappeared be.
meath the water. Patterson, believing
that he had killed the beaver at last,
jumped into . boa, and started out to
look for IL. body. Before be had gone
far he saw the beaver climb rp the bank
on the other side and disappear Pas'er'
.on then swore ,ha, he would never again
make any attempt on the life Of the bach
elor beaver.
All sisn. of the mysterious tramp Was
again lost. Ia the spring Of 1914 there
was an unusually large freshet In the
Chemung. Ira Mspe', father OF orin
Mspss. vas working on srsft with Two
other men some distance above New
town. Tie food became 20 strong that
iu., after the men had gone to their rsis
20 work early one morning. the rope
broke and they were carried down stream.
The raj, landed on an island near
Ne.town. A crop Of corn had been
raised on the island the year before. and
some Of the shocks Of stalks had been
left standing. The weather was very
cold. and Mspes and the men stated for
one Of the corn shocks to shelter them
selves until they could be taken off the
island. There had been slight fall Of
snow during the night, and tn, men no.
,iced . peculiar track leading from the
river to the corn shook toward which
they were going. The track had been
made by an animal with but three feet.
The men picked up clubs, and. surround.
ing the corn shook routed the animal
out.
Il was very large and very gray bea'
YER. and 1t Was soon killed. Ons OF its
hind legs was gone. and the men then
knew ,ha. the bachelor beaver that had
foiled all the best trapPen Tor twenty
years had met iis death at their hands
Mspes bough. all interest 10 the beaver
for o.. and subsequently, had the fa'
made into cap.